Nathan Wolfe on What’s Left to Explore

Biologist and explorer Nathan Wolfe gave an interesting and refreshingly concise talk on what’s left to explore in the world during the TED2012 conference. Clocking in at a modest seven minutes, Wolfe’s talk is a great example of how to get across an engaging chunk of information in a short amount of time. He begins by referencing a talk he gave to a group of middle school kids recently, joking that keeping the attention of a thousand middle school aged kids is a lot more challenging than giving a TED talk (which is probably true and a good thing to keep in mind when you’re starting to feel super nervous before a big preso). Interestingly enough, it was one of the middle school kids’ questions that sparked the topic for Wolfe’s TED talk. If we’ve discovered mostly everything on the planet, the girl asked, then where should we explore?

This introductory anecdote is a good example of utilizing the Heath brothers’ idea of creating a gap in the audience’s knowledge. The audience didn’t walk into Wolfe’s talk wondering what else in the world there is to explore. In fact, they probably had the jaded adult tendency to not think of the unknown world, to not consider the potential of exploration anymore, which is why the middle school girl’s question is so intriguing. It causes the audience to think, yeah! What else is there to explore? The innocent question causes the audience to realize there is a gap in their knowledge, and it sparks their curiosity. They’re ready to listen intently to what Wolfe has to tell them.

At one point early in his talk, Wolfe delivers a doozy of a fact: “Viruses make up the majority of genetic information on our planet, more than all other forms of life combined.” Your correspondent’s reaction: “Wowza! That’s insane, but he kind of glided over it.” If you’re lucky enough to have such an amazing factoid in your presentation, present it with emphasis, with meaning, with enthusiasm. Let your audience marinate on its significance for few seconds; don’t just say it quickly and move on. To his credit, Wolfe mentions this fact again at least three different times during his talk, which reinforces its meaning if you didn’t catch it the first time. Facts like those are what make presentations memorable; they are the ones that stick with you after the talk is over. Don’t underestimate the power that lies in staggering facts.

Wolfe is a dynamic speaker who gets all the basics right. He speaks clearly without any distracting aids, he has a clear beginning, middle and end with supporting evidence (including many secondary source references) nuancing each point, and he is an enthusiastic speaker. His voice has good inflection. It’s obvious that he’s excited about his talk’s material, which encourages the audience to feel the same.

Wolfe continues to present the audience with staggering facts (20% of the genetic material in your nose is stuff scientists have never seen before, what they call ‘biological dark matter’; 40-50% of your gut is comprised of this unknown matter) and he does so in a framework of comparison, which ties his entire presentation up in a nice little bow. The comparison being that this biological dark matter is “the equivalent of an uncharted continent.” This unknown matter is essentially the answer to the young girl’s question from his beginning: it’s what is left to explore.

He ends strongly with a call to action, inciting the audience to keep exploring: “Don’t assume that what we currently think is out there is the full story. Go after the dark matter, in whatever field you choose to explore.”

Watch the entire talk here.





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